RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — According to Sheriff Antoinette Irving, the Richmond City Justice Center is facing a critical deputy shortage.
During a public safety meeting in January, Irving said the jail is down 191 deputies out of 385 total positions. 8News spoke to a former deputy who worked at the jail.
“It didn’t feel safe. It was very obvious that there was tension,” the former deputy said. “Several staff assaults during my time there that were not good and not a fun situation whatsoever. It never felt like we had enough control over [situations], whether it was deputy assaults or inmate assaults.”
The former deputy described the jail as an unsafe and hostile work environment.
“Staff is exhausted,” said the former deputy. “If something does happen, staff takes forever to respond to an incident because there’s not enough of them and [if] inmates have the ability to commit nefarious activities, they have that option.”
According to city leaders, the impact of the deputy shortage is reaching beyond the jail’s doors.
“I had a lot of conversations with judges and those in our court systems, and they said it’s a lot of concern they have because we are short deputies,” said Councilwoman Ann Frances-Lambert.
When asked what she is doing to address the staffing issue, Irving said she has increased the starting salary for deputies.
“We have increased our starting salary and broadband scale for senior staff that compares closer to neighboring agencies,” said Irving. “We have launched an aggressive recruitment campaign. We also have retirees returning part-time to work in the court services unit to assist with staffing.”
This is Part 2 of a series on the Richmond City Justice Center, Part 1 can be found here.
